


we were born to break the doors down

by middnighter



Category: Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern Corps (Comics), Red Lanterns (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Pining, Red Lantern Guy Gardner, White Lantern Kyle Rayner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 06:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14688012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middnighter/pseuds/middnighter
Summary: Being a Red Lantern brings a whole new set of issues in Guy's life.





	we were born to break the doors down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AdhdBarryAllen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdhdBarryAllen/gifts).



> Happy birthday Zero!! I hope you like this!
> 
> I'm not the most familiar with the new52 but this happens in that era, while Guy is undercover with the Red Lanterns. I decided that it was all happening after GLC v2 and everything, because I do what I want and comic book continuity doesn't make sense.
> 
> Enjoy!

Guy was fucked. They was no pretty way of saying it.

Becoming a full-time Red Lantern made it impossible to ignore his emotions. There was rage, of course, taking over him at its worst and a dull buzz in the back of his head at its best. Which wasn’t for the worst, actually. Guy always had an anger problem, and the red power ring allowed him to channel it and get it out in more constructive ways than yelling and punching walls, in a way that the green ring never quite reached.

And getting his anger out of the way cleared his mind, allowed him to be in touch with his other emotions. His _feelings_.

Guy missed his friends. He missed his buddies from the JLI days. He missed Hal, even with all the shit Guy had to say about him. He actually made for a good drinking partner, once Guy had enough alcohol in the system to put aside all the times they didn’t see eye to eye. He missed John, and spending time with him on the roof of some spaceship, discussing nothing and everything, looking at the stars.

But more than anything, he missed Kyle.

Kyle was his best friend. They used to work together as Honor Guards, they used to live together on top of the bar that they ran on Oa. He had gotten used to Kyle being next to him all the time, cursing at his coffee in the mornings, falling asleep on the couch in front of a movie smuggled in space on a cassette tape at night. And Guy missed him so much.

Back when he was a Green Lantern, he had the bar to take care of to keep busy, even with Kyle off doing whatever the White Lantern did. He still dropped by occasionally, with stories of hardships lived without Guy by his side, and Guy would serve him a bottle of something and joke that now Kyle wasn’t working at the bar anymore, he actually had to pay for his drinks.

But now that Guy left the Green Lantern Corps, there was nothing to hold on to. He was a Red Lantern now. No more bar, no more teaching the junior Lanterns, no more partnered missions. And he missed that more than he wanted to admit. But he had no choice in that matter. Being a Red Lantern was way different than being a Green Lantern. The power of the Red Lanterns relied on instincts, raw emotion, in a way that Green Lanterns could always compartmentalize away. Now that he was a Red Lantern, his blood replaced with liquid rage and the ring keeping him alive all but glued to his finger, there was no going back.

Guy could no longer hide from the emotions he didn’t want to face, or he would risk losing control of them on the battlefield. And he did not particularly want to risk death just because he did not feel like acknowledging his feelings.

But being a Red Lantern allowed him to get in touch with his emotions, now that the anger was out of the way. So Guy allowed himself to feel.

And he was pretty sure he was in love with Kyle.

Which was why he was fucked.

Because love was the opposite emotion of rage. And filling your heart with love was the only way to destroy a Red Lantern power ring, which would cause his death if a Blue Lantern wasn’t around to patch him up —and those were hard to get a hold of these days, especially when you were going into cardiac arrest because of the sudden absence of blood in your veins. So he had to keep his feelings in check if he wanted to avoid dying.

Like Guy did not have enough things to worry about.

* * *

Guy wasn’t on Earth that often, but Kyle was, so whenever Guy managed to get a free day —which was maybe once every few Earth months, it was hard to keep track of time in space— they went for a coffee somewhere together.

The hipster café that only served hot chocolate where Kyle dragged him a few times was growing on him, and Guy was fiddling with his cup of cocoa, waiting for his best friend and man he was in love with to show up.

Not that Guy was planning to talk to him about it. Kyle had other things on his mind, and Guy was not going to burden him with the torch he was carrying for him. Guy knew a lost battle when he saw one.

But he still missed his best friend, and if that was the only thing Guy could get, he was going to take it and be happy with it. No matter the way his heart started beating faster and the world seemed brighter when Kyle entered the café.

Guy waved at him and took a sip from his cup to hide his smile as Kyle waved back and ordered a drink for himself.

They spent the next hour catching up. Kyle got out a sketchbook and started doodling whatever he fancied —apparently being the White Lantern required a lot from him and he had next to no free time to draw. Guy was happy to see that the little free time Kyle had, he wanted to spend it with him. And for the first time in what felt like forever, the anger was completely gone.

Then things went wrong. Guy started feeling dizzy. Then he was coughing once, twice, and there was blood on the hand he used to cover his mouth.

He fell from his chair, throwing up more blood. He barely registered Kyle carrying him away from the concerned crowd.

“What’s going on? Guy, are you alright?” Kyle said, alarmed, and his White Lantern get-up was so bright Guy just wanted to close his eyes and stay in his arms until all the blood was out of his system. _Wait_.

“I think I’m losing blood,” Guy slurred, his head feeling so light. It was almost funny, really. One look at his hand was enough to know —the ring had a crack running through it, it wouldn’t last very long. His love for Kyle had replaced rage in his heart and his body was rejecting the red energy keeping him alive. Maybe he should have become a Star Sapphire instead of a Red Lantern. Maybe he wouldn’t be dying in Kyle’s arms then.

“Stay with me, okay?” Kyle said, and Guy wasn’t going anywhere. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out, I know what’s going on,” Guy said, his voice weak and his throat sore. “I love you.”

The ring broke apart with a sharp sound.

Kyle stared at him for a second, mouth slightly open. “Come on, you’re not making any sense,” he fumbled out.

Guy tried to argue, because loving Kyle was the only thing that had sense in his life anymore, but the words were stuck in his lungs.

Kyle’s ring was glowing blue, and the blue light spread around Guy, and it was weirdly warm, like a blanket —since when were constructs warm, or even _soft_ , for that matter?

Then his vision cleared. His mind cleared. The rage was gone.

He was not a Red Lantern anymore, and his first thought was that Hal was going to be pissed at him for bailing on the undercover mission.

“All will be well,” Kyle said, taking Guy’s hand and squeezing it gently.

“Kyle…” was the only thing Guy managed to say. Kyle was still holding him close, but Guy was pretty sure he wasn’t going to faint so he stepped out of his arms, albeit with some regret. “I’m okay,” he said after a moment.

“What happened? You were talking nonsense.” Kyle was the most beautiful thing Guy had ever seen, and he wished he could wipe away that worried frown.

“I think I was making a lot of sense.” Damn it, was Kyle gonna make him say it again? “I love you. ‘Wasn’t able to keep it in check. And you know, rage and love don’t mix well.” He gestured at the broken ring pieces on the ground. “So this happened.”

Kyle’s frown changed from worried to confused. “You’re my best friend, I love you too.” He gave Guy a pat on the shoulder. “Glad to see you’re okay.”

Guy grabbed Kyle’s hand before he could remove it. He should leave it at that, brush it off, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie about that, not anymore. “No,” he said. “I love you. I’m in love with you.”

Kyle blinked at him.

Guy swallowed. He hated having to talk about that kind of stuff, but since it almost got him killed, he had no other choice. “I have been for quite some time now. Only realized it recently. You don’t have to… say anything, or whatever. We can still be friends, I—”

“Guy?”

When Guy looked up to meet Kyle’s eyes, he was surprised to see the frown gone. “Yeah?”

“Shut up.” And Kyle leaned forward and kissed him.

It was soft and warm and the angle was weird but Guy didn’t care, this was the best thing that ever happened to him. Past the initial surprise, he kissed Kyle back, letting go of his hand to wrap his arms around his back.

“You took me by surprise,” Kyle said, catching his breath, “I never expected you to… God, I’ve wanted this for so long, I’ve never let myself hope that you—”

Guy kissed him again. “I missed you”, he said, resting his head on Kyle’s shoulder.

“I missed you too.”

“Now that I’m not a Red Lantern anymore, I gotta figure out something to do. How does reopening our bar on Earth sound?”

“That sounds perfect.”


End file.
